


Flowers and Chocolate

by FreakyPseudWriter



Category: Naruto
Genre: Chocolate, Don't copy to another site, Flowers, Fluff, Love Confessions, Other, Reader-Insert, Self-Insert, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 16:49:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17791103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreakyPseudWriter/pseuds/FreakyPseudWriter
Summary: Iruka wants to confess his love at Valentine's Day, but has problems to decide on the flowers he should use to express his feelings.





	Flowers and Chocolate

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short thing I suddenly felt inspired to write ^^'' It's not proofread or anything due to the date of Valentine's Day being... yesterday already and me being up late and having this random burst of inspiration at 11PM.
> 
> Nevertheless, enjoy this short fic and all of you a nice Valentine's Day! :D (Or, because it's only one day a year, have a good, old, regular day ;))

Tulips or roses? Roses or tulips?

Iruka stared at the display of flowers like his life depended on it. The nerve wrecking process of having to _decide_ on one bouquet already took its victims. The nails of his index and middle finger were down and currently, the teacher nibbled at his thumb while the two flowers mocked him with their vibrant color and smell.

Tulips? Roses? Which one would be the best?

Red roses were the classic Valentine’s Day flowers. There was nothing speaking against something classical, right? But technically, in the language of flowers, tulips meant “romantic love”. Which meant, they were a better choice in conveying his feelings. Right?

Right?

And was red even the right choice? As shinobi, the color red often had other connotations, none of them good. He also could get white roses or yellow tulips.

God, why didn’t he pay attention when you mentioned your favorite color? In the time span of working with you for one year, you certainly dropped that particular info in at least one half of a simple sentence. But why, why goddammit _why_ couldn’t Iruka recall one instance that you mentioned a special shade of a color you favored over others?

“Problems to decide, Iruka-sensei?” Ino, who was leaning over the counter with the cash register, winked at her old academy teacher.

The chunin laughed awkwardly. “Is it that noticeable?”

“Noticeable? Sensei, I could hear your dark muttering across the store. I’m pretty sure your intense thinking chased away some potential customers!”

Again, a little chuckle escaped him, while he scratched the scar cutting the bridge of his nose. An old habit to calm his strained nerves, but today, one of the most nerve wrecking days of the year, the familiar gesture didn’t help in the slightest. “I’m sorry, Ino. It certainly wasn’t my intention.”

 

“Yes, yes.” The blonde sighed, before stepping around the counter, the green apron swinging with her steps. “Just let me help you. With my amazing deduction skills, I already know you have trouble deciding between tulips and roses.”

The display of flowers seemed to mock the teacher at this point. With a defeated sigh, he stepped aside and allowed Ino to take the matter into her skilled and without a doubt, far more knowledgeable hands. “Yes… I’m not certain about which flowers would…”

“Aah, don’t say anything! There are only two reasons people come into the Yamanaka Flower Shop at Valentine’s Day looking as stressed as you. First,” she raised a hand into the air, the index finger pointed out while the rest of her fingers were balled into a fist, “they forgot about the holiday and need a last-minute bouquet. I don’t take you as such a man and thus, go with the second option. You want to confess your feelings.” His former student turned to him, her smile almost with a devilish undertone. “Isn’t that right?”

Checkmate. Sweat soaked into the back of his flak vest at the predatory smile Ino gave him. “Yeah… That’s right. As always, you’re very sharp.”

“There was a reason you had to keep me from cheating on your tests, Sensei.”

“I remember vividly.” Iruka said. “No matter what I did, I had to think of a new method for the next test. If not for Naruto, Shikamaru and Choji, you would’ve been higher on my list of troublemakers.”

“Now, you’re flattering me.” The young girl was already working. Her hands wove flowers together, selected, dismissed, continued to work effortlessly. “By the way, for whom is the bouquet? Maybe for a certain part-time teacher?” Her blue eyes twinkled in sadistic glee of having her victim right in the palm of her hands.

His stomach tumbled right through his feet into the ground. Were his feelings for you really that noticeable? Even when he tried to hide them and Iruka was also pretty sure you had no idea how he felt. How fast his heart pounded whenever he had talk to you. How heavy and clumsy his tongue felt when you smiled at him. Or how many times Iruka actively searched excuses to go and talked to you, just to have the pleasure of feeling these emotions.

“Yeah,” he croaked and tried to ignore the giggle of the girl, “Yeah, it’s… Yes.”

Now, this Valentine’s Day, would be the day of his confession. Now or never. If you would reject him, then he could come to terms with it and not pin uselessly for you. It would also be better for his emotional state in a whole, getting this massive weight of hidden feelings off of his chest. But what if…

Iruka’s whole face lit up when he imagined the possibility of a confession in return. There were some moments where the teacher believed to see more in your eyes. A little spark of _something_ more, and this spark led him now into the famous flower shop and into the fangs of one Ino Yamanaka.

 

“I mean,” her words abruptly ripped Iruka out of his sugary sweet daydreams, “You two would be so cute together. From me, it’s a clear yes and I will personally make sure that the bouquet will capture the heart of your beloved!”

The brunet teacher blinked in shock as he was handed a really pretty, simple and yet incarnate assembly of both roses and tulips. Any other florist wouldn’t manage to put two heavily clashing flowers like this together, but Ino did a wonderful job to compliment the individual features of both without hiding the other. A perfect balance, and therefore, a perfect bouquet which solved Iruka’s initial problem of not being able to decide on one flower.

“No wonder Suzume-san always spoke highly of your Ikebana-skills.” He clutched the bouquet in his slightly sweaty hand while admiring the way the red petals of the rose shone in the light and how the tulip seemed to protect the nimble counterpart with its strong body. “It’s wonderful. How much do I owe you?”

Ino cheekily grinned at him, hands placed at her hips. “For the love, Iruka-sensei, I will do anything to see it blossom. Just tell me how it went tomorrow!”

“Really, Ino. How much?”

“And I already stated what my price is. A report of your confession by tomorrow.” Ino winked at him. “Nothing else. Now, go and confess! Otherwise, I really have to take back my more than generous offer and also take this wonderful and simply perfect bouquet out of your hands, even when my heart hurts…”

She won in the exact moment the girl stretched her hands out. Gods, Naruto’s classmates were all some kind of troublemakers, in one sense or another. Not that Iruka would complain too loudly right now. He only pressed the flowers to his chest, all the while lowering his head for the girl. “Thank you very much. I appreciate it and will definitely stop by tomorrow with a little gift to thank my savior.”

“Bring your Valentine with you!” were the last words Iruka heard from Ino before he left the store, with light feet and an indeed perfect bouquet, what would hopefully make confessing his feelings a little bit easier.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

“(Y/N)-sensei?” Iruka knocked at the door to your classroom, the flowers still clutched in his hand, but hidden behind his back. “(Y/N)-sensei? Are you in there?”

A few more moments, shuffling, then a happy “Yes, come in!” allowed the teacher inside the classroom.

There you were. Your flak vest was hanging over the back of the chair standing right at the teacher’s desk, while you had your elbows placed on the table, the long dark sweatshirt rolled up and exposing your forearms. Wisps of hair fell around your face, loosened by a long day of work with hyperactive children with weapons and dangerous jutsu. You smiled at him as Iruka stepped into the room, your face slightly flushed and one hand twiddling with a red pen to correct the tests in front of you.

God, you were gorgeous. For a second, Iruka completely forgot what he wanted to say. His tongue was tied up, his brain a mess and he nearly dropped the flowers as he stood there, right in front of the desk and still hiding one part of his confession behind his back.

“Yes?” you repeated, giving Iruka the same smile which would sent his heart skyrocketing, “Iruka-sensei? Is there a problem?”

“No, not at all.” he managed to get out. “Not at all. Uhm… There was just something I wanted to tell you.”

Instantly, you dropped your red pen onto the table. Your whole attention was on the brunet, what made him only sweat and fidget more. “Oh? Okay, I’m listening.”

Now or never. _Now or never_. Iruka tried to psych himself up with these words. Gods, this was more difficult than he thought it would be. Maybe, he could just play it of as a joke, still? Just laugh about it and turn around, walk out of the classroom like nothing ever happened?

But he knew he would hate himself for leading you on like this, for pulling back when Iruka was already so close to saying these three sweet, bitter words right into your face and see your reaction.

He braced himself one last time, breathed in and looked up, right into your eyes when he spoke. “(Y/N)-sensei, as you are p-possibly aware, today is Valentine’s Day and I wanted to use this sp-special holiday and all its customaries to a-ask you if you would l-like to be my V-Valentine?”

With every word, his voice grew shakier, brittle, almost inaudible. At the end of the sentence, Iruka cursed himself. What was that? Such a stupid and stuttered mess! Absolutely unworthy of being spoken out loud, not to talk about asking you out that way!

 

Indeed, your mouth hung open and wide eyes were set on the brunet. Apparently, you lost your ability to speak or react in any way at the clumsy attempt of getting your romantic attention.

Quickly, Iruka whipped out the flowers behind his back, rambling on, now, that the dam was broken. “You know, it has been a year since I met you and I have to say, I certainly enjoy our conversations a lot, not to talk how you work with your class and that you’re a capable chunin, and that you’re very good-looking in my opinion, with your hair and face and eyes which I really, really like, they are beautiful, just like you are and I wanted to get clean about my emotions just to not-!”

Suddenly, he could feel your hands on his, holding onto the bouquet alongside him. Your face was closer, just a few inches away and out of instinct, Iruka’s eyes slid down to your slightly parted lips. God, how much he would like to…

“Uhhm…” You licked your lips, what caused Iruka to nearly groan at the mesmerizing sight. “Iruka-sensei, it is… Very, very lovely and flattering to know you feel like this. More than you maybe realize. But… But before I give you an answer, can I show you something, please?”

Not an outright rejection. That was good?

“Sure.” Iruka said, voice still shaky and nervousness churning in his stomach.

You smiled again, before letting go of his hands (they felt strangely cold, now that you had let go) and bent down to the drawers of your desk. The top drawer was opened and you ruffled quickly through the contents, before a cute little, triumphant grunt floated from your mouth. “Hah!”

Then, quicker than his eyes could follow, you whipped out _something_ from the drawer and held it right into his face, face even redder than before and eyes evading his. “You know, I-I wanted to kind of ask the same thing… Of you. If you want to be my Valentine today. And knowing you liked sweets, I figured…”

A box of chocolate. Read and shaped like a heart, a small ribbon on top of the box, shaking in your white fingers.

Iruka blinked. And blinked again at the box of chocolate. Then, he looked up again, right into your eyes and a little smile formed on your face when you saw how the teacher smiled all the same. “I would be honored to be your Valentine, (Y/N)-sensei.”

“And I would be more than glad to be yours, Iruka.”

Hearing his name without an honorific sent shivers down his spine and blood right into his face. Gods, did that mean…?

Carefully, Iruka leaned in. He was painfully aware of the surprise on your face, but you didn’t move, thankfully. Like this, when he gently pressed his and your forehead together and softly kissed your cheek, the teacher didn’t miss the acceptance and overall soft happiness radiating from you.

“Are you hungry?” he whispered. “We could go to Ichiraku’s. Or any other restaurant, of course, if you don’t like ramen, but I’m pretty certain every table in Konoha will be booked and I really didn’t plan this far ahead.”

You nodded, all warm smiles and twinkling eyes, an expression Iruka wanted to see as much as he possibly could from now on. “Ichiraku’s sounds perfect. And after wards, we can share your chocolate.”


End file.
